Thieving With Dignity
by CaptainDeryn
Summary: Captain Rielay Taqq has been in the smuggling business for more years than she can count on one hand. She's known as the best shot in the galaxy, but that can only get her so far. After a job goes south she's forced to the Heart of the Republic, Coruscant, where a meeting with a senator's son may have just found her a way to get filthy rich.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Thieving With Dignity

Chapter: 1/?

Summary: Captain Rielay Taqq has been in the smuggling business for more years than she can count on one hand. She's known as the best shot in the galaxy, but that can only get her so far. After a job goes south she's forced to the Heart of the Republic, Coruscant, where a meeting with a senator's son may have just found her a way to get filthy rich. And if he sticks around…all the more credits for her.

Warnings: Some strong language and violence, nothing major and nothing gory.

*Cross posted to under the username CaptainDeryn

 **A/N: I'm back kiddos, raising from the fanfiction grace with 10x the sass and 10x the bitterness in an all new bite-sized container. If you all don't like the Star Wars: The Old Republic universe you will not enjoy this, so please vacate the premises. Enjoy.**

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Doing business on Nar Shaddaa was like trying to do business blindfolded and drunk off the strongest stuff in the bar. It was tough, cutthroat and favor was constantly being shifted on a day to day basis. There were some things that were constant, the slave trade, scumbags that would cheat you out of your well earned credits, and Hutts. Most of the time all three things combined in one disgusting, slimy, stuck up mess.

This wasn't Captain Taqq's first deal on Nar Shaddaa and she doubted it would be her last. There was a certain appeal to the planet's lawlessness that drew her back time and time again for with the smell of credits just waiting to be grabbed. Here she could smuggle spice free of guilt and make a small fortune off of illegal goods she could sell to greedy Hutts for a pretty price. Most of those fortunes became less than ideal by the time taxes were skimmed off the top, but as long as there was a steady stream of green filtering into Rielay's account she would gladly feed the Hutt's greed.

All she wanted to do right now was put her fist through a certain Hutt's ugly, squishy face. As she sat in the seediest cantina she could find, with the shitiest alcohol known to man, and even some alien species she sulked and licked her wounds. This had been starting off like any other well chosen job that was sure to yield enough credits to fuel the _Promise_ for weeks, even months but after almost a week planetside her contact was losing interest, Rielay was no closer to being paid and her deadline was coming up fast. When she had taken her job it had seemed easy, presented to her in three steps. First, smuggle some extremely illegal drugs past law enforcement. Spice smuggling was a personal low in her long run of deals but there was a reason she had sent her crewmate Hugo to Port Nowhere to scope some jobs while she was here. Her moral code went entirely out the viewport whenever she came here.

The spice adventure should have only taken a day _tops_ , but after a close run in with a 'pub law officer she had been forced to lie her way around being searched and put off her delivery until the suspicion died down. She was still preening over her quick save but the loss of two days weighed heavy on her mind.

Second, take out Exchange lackeys that were getting in the way of the Hutt. Rielay should have known as soon as she caught a blaster bolt to the shoulder that things were going to get bad. The Exchange had festered into more than just a street corner gang since she last time she had been here, practically running Nar Shaddaa under the Cartel's nose at this point. With so many people and a list to get through Rielay's diplomacy had followed her morals out the viewport almost as quickly as her body count went up. She hadn't even bothered with the numbers this time. The hits to the gang's key people should have sent them reeling, but all it seemed to do was piss them off. Whispers had followed her home about the small whirlwind creating havoc in their ranks and if they hadn't decided to try and take her out she might have found the time to be proud of that rep.

 _Ugh._ She took a swig of her drink and wrinkled her nose. The stuff was horrible, but what was a trip to the Smuggler's Moon without some of the worst stuff credits could buy. Some of the worst to fill up inside as much as it did outside. Rielay thunked the glass back down on the bar and rested her head on her forearms, glowering at the opposite wall. The chatter all around her or the scuffle in the corner that might have provided free entertainment to pass the night as she got more and more drunk to avoid the little situation she had worked herself into went unnoticed as she brooded over her third and final assignment.

Eliminate the Exchange leader.

Sure, it should have been easy. Just like taking the akk dog for a little romp in a Coruscanti park. Putting a round into one high-and-mighty guy on a cardboard box pedestal was something she could do with her eyes closed.

Except she only had one day left to find him, the whole damn gang on her tail, and _zero_ leads on a location. If the spice deal hadn't taken that extra day or if she hadn't gotten so overzealous with her blasters maybe she'd have had time to actually track him down, or hire a bounty hunter to do the hard part. Or maybe if the Hutt hadn't given her a single week to do all his dirty work...

Hutts. Rielay huffed out a breath, swirling her drink in her glass and pouting into its murky depths. At this point she didn't even remember the Hutt's name, and as far as he was concerned hers was nothing more than 'pretty little smuggler' but she certainly remembers his foul stink and even fouler personality. She shouldn't have expected anything better than what she got, especially since she had the nerve to walk in on Hutt territory. The Hutt Cartel was one of the nastiest groups she had ever had the misfortune to deal with, and if they didn't readily toss out credits to anyone on the street that claimed they could shoot a blaster she would have ditched the work a long time ago and found herself some place pretty to work.

Instead she had fallen back into this cesspool. _Again._

This time's employer wasn't even a big name in the Cartel, even by Nar Shaddaa's standards. He was a small time Hutt with a large ego and a lust for credits and reputation than most of his fellow species that ruled Hutt space. Whatever territorial fight he was having her sort out was just a stepping stone for his name and an even larger boost for his bank account. He had snatched nearly half her promised earnings from the spice run and there wasn't a single thing she could do about it.

Except maybe follow up her fist in his face with a blaster bolt.

She downed the rest of her drink, choking on the bitter taste that made her lips pucker and eyes screw close and threw down a handful of credit chips that would hopefully cover the space she took up and the drink she had brooded over for-she checked her chrono-over an hour. Great. Twenty three hours and counting down now until she had to either return with a gang leader's head or empty handed. But she wasn't willing to get up quite yet. Leaving would mean going to her apartment and there she would need to continue her search for leads on the Big Boss with only a datapad at her disposal.

She leaned back in her chair, tilting back until the legs were off the ground and letting them thunk down over and over until the bartender glared at her. There had to be something here...anything that could count as a lead.

Ah, the fighters in the corner had settled down to talk and she caught the magic word. _Boss_. If it wasn't a Hutt, it had to be a gang leader. Random gang, Exchange, close enough.

They looked up as she sauntered over, grabbing an empty chair. "Trouble with your boss?"

"What's it to you?" One of the guys was nursing a swollen nose and a drink, squinting at her. "Oh, no reason." Rielay inspected her nails, looking up to flash a smirk and a quirked eyebrow at them. "Just, you know, I happen to be skilled with getting rid of ah... _business problems_."

The snickers in response earned a wink in their direction, turning the snickers into low guffaws. "You don't look like the bounty huntin' type."

"Bounty hunters are amateurs compared to me." Rielay crowed leaning back in her chair. "Don't become best shot in the galaxy waiting' for someone to show up."

There was a pause and her thoughts screeched to a halt. _Kark_.

"Best shot in the galaxy, huh?" Suddenly they seemed a lot less friendly. "Funny thing is, we've been lookin' for someone like that."

Her laugh was nervous as she tried to backpedal. "Oh huh, well ain't that quite the coincidence. I might have over exaggerated, 'm really the _second_ best shot." She laughed again, drawing back as the man with the swollen nose leaned his elbows on the table, his rank breath washing over her.

"Well isn't that a shame. You fit the bill perfectly."

"Who woulda thought, such a small girl to be such a big problem."

Rielay yelped as her chair was kicked out from under her, sending her crashing to the floor. She scooched back until she hit the legs of another table, sending it crashing over and whatever alcohol remained on it to the floor where her hands now slipped. "Now, now, fellas." She scowled as one of men knelt across her legs when she tried to kick him, reaching forward to yank the blaster and scattergun from the holsters at her hips. "Is this really necessary?"

She rolled her eyes when the other man finished binding her hands, letting them fall back to her lap. Most of the patrons had vacated as soon as things started to get heated and the bartender was mysteriously gone. Cowards. "I'm not moving from this spot."

The grin tossed her way was slightly feral. "Oh you won't need to. You wouldn't be able to keep up anyways."

She narrowed her eyes. "That was rude." She swore indignantly as she was abruptly yanked to her feet and draped over one of the guy's shoulders. Even as she was carried out of the cantina by way of a back door she couldn't bring herself to feel nervous. They hadn't tried to kill her yet and she still had a vibroblade tucked in the waistband of her trousers and a pistol on a holster at her shoulder. If it came down to a fight she knew she could handle it, she had got out of worse. They had made it clear they were Exchange members, and if she couldn't bring the Big Bad to her, well then she might as well get a free ride to him.

"Classy ride." Rielay remarked, settling down in the seat of the retired, old model sky-cab that might have once been in the taxi business. Her critical eye caught a dents on the side and the many times repaired parts that lay uncovered. "Did you get it out of a dumpster?"

"Hilarious. You should be more worried. Our boss ain't going to be to happy to see you." The man piloting threw a glance over his shoulder, nearly slamming them into a passing vehicle.

"Worried?" Rielay shook her head with a shrug. "No need to be, I'm not scared of anything. 'Specially not a gang leader."

Silence. It wasn't any fun being captured by thugs with good self control. Usually she came out of captures with at _least_ a broken nose and a good story to tell.

With a sigh she sat back, watching the city fly by. While the cantina had been all dim lights, loud music and hazy clouds the city was a chaotic mix of neon signs, speeder lights and light pollution. There was something pretty about it, if you could look past the disgusting people and even nastier upkeep. With this saved time she'd have hours and hours to admire it and her pockets would be heavier.

One member of their group had left, most likely to go warn his boss. Good, let him get cocky before the fight even began. People were stupid when they got over confident. And while fighting might be hard without her blasters she was no stranger to fighting with less. They hadn't bothered to check inside her jacket, where she had a detonator tucked into the inside pocket. As long as she could play her cards right, this wouldn't be a problem.

The Exchange's home of operations was even less impressive than when Rielay had been here before. Much to her satisfaction she could still see evidence of her fight, holes blown through crates, scorch marks along the floors and walls. Even the looks sent her way as her entourage pushed her through the massive warehouse, filled with both fury and trepidation filled her with a pride that put a bounce in her step.

She was led down several hallways that she recognized and several doors still jammed open from when she had sliced into their locking mechanisms and fried the wiring. They would have one hell of a time trying to cover this up to their rivals. More points to her reputation.

"Might want to fix those." Rielay stepped over the shattered remains of transparisteel windows and light casings, casting the room in only the struggling white of the remaining lights and the colors of the planet outside. "It's creating a draft."

When she looked over her shoulder the men that had brought her in were gone leaving her standing alone in the middle of the room. The pricing of the hairs on the back of her neck and a bad feeling told her that there were blasters trained on her from all around.

"You're the captain that took out my men?" And so the Big Bad shows himself.

Rielay raised her chin. "I am. Surprised?" Her heart, already quickened from when she realized she was surrounded seemed to forget how to beat as she inspected the subject of her final task. Besides the height and mass he had on her, that was nothing unusual, he had a high tech blaster at his hip and Rielay couldn't tell if it was the dust swirling around him, or a shield generator.

"Not what I was expecting for the reputation that precedes you. But you are...something." He was in her space now, crowding her. Rielay took a step back, fists unclenching and clenching. That was _definitely_ a shield generator and if there was one time she wished she had backup, it was now and-

And her wrists were free.

"You're little stunt caused quite the chaos. Already our territory is being intruded on. You need to be taken out, but we won't be taken seriously unless you go down swinging."

Rielay rubbed her wrists, eying him warily. "I won't be the one going down."

As his hand went to the holster at his hip she reached back to grab the pistol in hers, firing the first several charges. They all bounced of the shield generator but when he opened fire she was already tucked behind a set of cargo boxes. There was only so long that shield could stay charged. If she could stay just in range until then she might be able to get out of this.

"Hiding isn't very professional _captain_." Shots sparked over her head as they connected with the wall. "Come out and play."

With a deep breath the popped up, firing the next charge from her pistol before diving towards a new section of boxes, the weapon whining as it charged.

Fire. Dodge. Sharp, quick breaths. Fire again, swear at a close call.

Burning metal and short circuits assaulted her nostrils as shots hit the walls and circuit panels. Lights were shorted out left and right until they were fighting in the dull shadows of the city.

A bolt caught her across the thigh and she cried out, retreating until she could dig through the pack at her hip for a kolto stick. She swore, almost all the stims kept neatly there had been smashed when she had been shoved against the wall. Her hand found a stim still in its casing and she jabbed it into her leg. Within seconds she felt a new rush of energy and she could put the stinging pain into the back of her mind.

The rhythmic repetition as her blasters charged and fired, charged and fired kept time with her breath as she held her ground, always staying just out of sight.

She hit the ground hard on her shoulder, rolling with the force of a pulse detonator that hurled her way. When she scrambled to her feet, firing another shot with her pistol that was rapidly overheating she saw the plasma bolt go through, hitting the boss's arm.

 _It's dying_.

In the brief reprise as he took several steps out of her range, clutching at his arm she dug in her jacket, pulling out the detonator. Her fatigued, shaking hands almost dropped it as she tried to pull out the pin and the blinked against the sweat dripping into her eyes.

He was recovering already, tossing aside the empty cannister of a kolto stim. She pressed her back against the crate she was behind, yanking the pin out with her teeth and spitting it onto the ground.

Using the box for support she limped out so she could see around it, hurling the detonator as hard as she could towards him and firing her pistol when it hit the ground. Bright white light crowded her vision as she blinked, the rumble of the small explosion ringing in her ears. From above blaster bolts began to rain down and as she hightailed it back to her cover spot.  
"The blasters, Rielay, the blasters." She snarled to herself. "How could you forget about that gut feeling!"

With no detonators and her blasters missing she couldn't hope to get through the hailstorm of bolts to get any ID off of the boss, or even to take out any of the snipers with her low range weapon.

So she ran, darting around crates and skimming along the wall until she burst out into the main space of the warehouse. There she stalled, searching for her stealth generator that she prayed had had enough time to recharge since she had killed it earlier in the day. After jabbing the button three times the generator sputtered to life and Rielay was able to breath again.

Moving slowly and with great care she was able to maneuver her way through the thinning crowds of Exchange members, slipping through through the shadows as her generator began to fail again until she was back in the streets of Nar Shaddaa. She wasn't even spared a glance by the vagrants and smugglers that still wandered the streets so late at night.

Eliminate the Exchange boss. Check.

Although not as easy as she had hoped. The stim Rielay had injected into her leg was wearing off as she sunk into a sky-cab that would bring her back to her apartment and the burn was starting to sting again every time she moved.  
Her deadline still stood, but with the job no longer threatened she felt like she had all the time in the world.

"What do you mean you aren't going to pay me?" Rielay cried, digging her nails into her palms.

There was a delay as the protocol droid at the Hutt's side translated her words into Huttenese and then listened to the deep rumble of his response. Her lips curled in disgust as she waited, tapping her foot rapidly on the ground. This whole room was a shrine to the Hutt's wealth, filled with fancy trinkets and droids. The Hutt himself was sprawled across cushions made of exotic silks and by his side were several Twi'lek slaves in typical Hutt fashion.

"My master wishes me to inform you that you brought no evidence back that you were the one to kill the Exchange leader. Therefore your contract was not met."

"I did kill him!" She seethed, throwing her hands out. "He shot me! Do you seriously think that I just shot myself in my leg to try and trick you?"

The longer the pause went on the more agitated she became. "My master says that this is non negotiable and you will not be compensated for your failed contract." The droid moved closer to it's master as the Hutt rumbled something more. "He also advises you to leave before he you wear his patience any thinner."

"But I did the job." She protested, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she saw the hope of credits sliding through her fingers. "I smuggled your stupid spice and killed all those gang lords for you so just give me my damn paycheck!" She rose her force, flinching back as the Hutt became angry, roaring something in Huttese.

"I am going to have to ask you to leave," The protocol droid shuffled towards her, lifting it's hands. "Your audience is over."

Rielay slammed her foot onto the ground when two guards from the door outside grabbed her elbows. "You scheming, lying maggot!" She bellowed. "I did your dirty work you slimy piece of-" She yelped as one of the guard's elbows caught her in the nose as the tossed her out into the hallway, the door sliding closed in front of her.

Clumsily she caught herself against the wall, rubbing a hand over her throbbing nose. A week on this nasty planet dealing with a Hutt and she wasn't even going to get _paid_ for it. If he wouldn't give her the credits in hand then she'd just have to find a way to get them anyways.

There was a cantina for the Hutt's patrons out front and Rielay took a table in the corner, pulling out her datapad and opened up several different files and programs, her fingers flying over it's surface as she worked. Within the hour she sat back with a sly smirk, watching the credit count on her account going up and the credit total sliding down in the Hutt's account.

"Take that."She muttered spitefully, wiping the datapad's history before shutting it off and putting it back inside her jacket. Her compensation and then some was gone from the total and wouldn't be noticed until she was long off planet. And there wouldn't be any way to trace it back to her. No one could jip her of her well earned credits without paying for it.

Hours later she was back in her apartment, packing up her things she would need to take with her back to her ship. With a content sigh she closed the drawstring on her back, slinging over her shoulder and went to shut off the holovision when she paused with her finger poised over the power button.

 _Wanted: Smuggler accused off breaching into private Hutt accounts and stealing thousands of credits. Large reward offered._

Rielay whacked the button and the holovision screen flickered out. She looked out the viewport into the traffic lanes, biting her lip.

 _Shit._

She really screwed up this time.

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 **Up Next: Rielay tries to find a way to get off planet with a price on her head.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Quick thanks to RainOnSaturn and EquinePassion for being kind enough to bounce ideas back and forth with me and edit this! Much love for you guys.**

 **Also, thanks to anyone who might have popped in to read the first chapter, even if you're just ghosting through I appreciate it.**

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This late at night the Deucalon spaceport was lifeless. The pots where holographic trees usually stood were dark and the sign on the walls flickered out one by one. Rielay's feet were the only sound on the metal floor, the roar of the turbolift that would take her to her ship her only company.

It had been easy to get here. After spending hours pacing her apartment she had dared to venture out, caught a cab, and had found her way inside the spaceport unnoticed. The world hadn't ended, bounty hunters hadn't descended from the sky to shoot her where she stood.

Something wasn't right.

Escapes were never this easy, not for a smuggler, especially a smuggler that double crossed a Hutt. She readjusted the bag over her shoulder with a sigh as the turbolift ground to a halt. Perhaps it had already blown over and the bounty had just been a bluff, she thought as she stepped out of the lift.

Her bag thumped to the ground at her feet and she felt the blood slowly draining out of her face. "Nuh-uh." Luggage forgotten, she raced across the hangar to where her ship, the _Promise_ stood.

"No! Not my ship, anything but my ship…" Someone had been in there, the half raised ramp proof enough. There was no way she _hadn't_ closed that, she wasn't stupid.

A strangled noise worked its way out of her throat as she stalked closer, seeing the long marks of paint marking out some symbol she didn't recognize. Who had put their nasty hands on her ship? No one should have been able to get down here without a code, unless someone had a strong affinity for slicing into secure technology.

They had done something, beyond vandalism, she could just...just... _tell._ Something deep in her gut among boiling anger and indignation screamed a warning at her. And the ramp wouldn't extend, instead sticking in the half lowered position no matter how many times she tried to get it down.

"Whoever did this better not still be here." Rielay snarled, attempting to leap up onto the ramp. "Or they'll find themselves on the business end of a blaster." She tumbled to the ground again and smacked a fist onto the floor, giving a frustrated screech from behind clenched teeth. When she finally caught the strut of the ramp she shimmed up with a grunt until she flopped into the body of her ship.

The sinking feeling shouldn't have been a surprise as Rielay sat up, seeing gouges torn down the walls, the storage cabinet by the airlock torn open and ransacked. She shouldn't have been surprised when the lounge was torn to bits, the couch flipped over and objects thrown around. Every room ripped apart should not have brought a new wave of sinking horror.

The sight of the looted cargo hold, with almost everything of value broken into and taken and the other boxes ripped open should not have brought a long strong of every curse she could think off out of her mouth.

No wonder it had been so quiet, Rielay yanked her hands through her hair, hissing out a breath. They hadn't needed to come after her, with almost all her cargo gone she didn't stand a chance. Her clients would rip her to shreds without a second thought.

When she finally forced herself into the hold, shoving crates back where they belonged and tossing the broken parts into a pile she took a quick inventory.

Most of the supplies she was running to rebellion camps in Empire territory had remained intact, but the artifacts she had for both Sith and Jedi buyers were gone, classified documents and ancient texts for government leaders all across the galaxy gone. She was an _idiot_.

With each crate she pushed back into place she released a breath, trying to steady the quaking that had started in her hands. It would be fine, she would work things out, reach out to her contacts and let them know the situation.

 _What? That you did something stupid and lost their cargo?_

Rielay shook her head, pushing back the last box and stepping back to admire her handywork. It was almost like there weren't several hundred credits worth of valuables missing.

 _The sith won't be so lenient._

She would figure it out, find a way out of the deal. She could lie, or try to con her way out..

A shudder wracked her as she thought of the sith and their punishments for failures and double crossers. Her cargo wasn't due for several weeks, she had time to get it back, she had to.

If she could even get into the air and off Nar Shaddaa. Most of the damage done to her ship seemed to be cosmetic as she worked her way through checking the engines, the hyperdrive and the other modifications hidden throughout small passageways and crawl spaces. Whoever had done this-Rielay had a strong suspicion her ship's information had been hacked into and sent out by a certain scheming ex-client- hadn't thought to damage the engines, thank the stars.

If this is what they had done to her ship, she couldn't imagine what they'd do if they found her with it. Losing cargo like this was unprofessional at best, deadly at worst. She couldn't afford for it to happen again.

She breathed a little easier on the bridge after convincing the engines to roar to life and the ramp to creak all the way up, feeling her heart steady when she was back among the stars. Up here it was safe, up here she could think and plan without constantly looking over her shoulder.

Within a few minutes she had set a course to Port Nowhere, holoing Hugo to give him a heads up that she'd be there within the next standard day and cutting the call before he could ask about Nar Shaadaa.

Wandering out to the holoterminal she slumped down in a chair to key in another holo frequency she knew like the back of her hand.

"I thought I told you to lose this frequency you pint sized pain in my ass." Rielay closed her eyes, dropping her forehead into her hands. It was going to be one of those calls.

"Hey Zav, I need a favor."

She raised her eyes as the holographic mirialan scoffed. "I thought you knew what you were doing." Rielay bristled at the mocking tone, glaring at the image of her ex captain.

Zav Torelli had been her ride off Corellia and her employer for the better part of three years. After losing her second captain to the Sacking of Coruscant nearly nine years prior Zav had dropped out of the smuggling ring, leaving Rielay in her place. But as Zav felt the need to drive in every time they spoke, she wasn't half the captain the mirialan had been.

"If this is still about the _Resolution_ then drop it, that was years ago." She snapped. "Get a new hobby or hang up this call right now, I'm not in the mood."

"Oh did I hit a nerve, squirt?" Zav's image flickered, disappearing for a moment before reappearing. It looked to Rielay like she had her feet propped in front of her own holoterminal. "You know what, I've got time, how'd you fuck up now?"

She didn't know if she had the patience for this. Zav had once been at least cordial with her before, and had even given her their old freighter the _Resolution_. Ever since Rielay had traded the massive freighter that she hadn't been able to single handedly run for the her current ship the _Promise,_ Zav had become harder and harder to talk to. "Looks like I'm taking after you and just couldn't seem to keep my hands off the green." Her grin was feral, testy. "And just so happened to get myself on the bad side of a Hutt. Got my ship torn up."

Zav leaned back further, shaking her head. The transmission hitched every time she moved and Rielay pushed down a surge of irritation. "Thought I taught you better. Your ship is garbage anyways. Your point?"

"Oh please, this happened to you before." Rielay ground out. "When we did the Hutta run. You've got to have someone that can toss a defense system on this thing or help."

She rested her chin on her hands, looking away as her ex-captain gave an over exaggerated sigh. These aggressive jabs had never been uncommon when she had been working as a mechanic for the mirialan but these digs at her situation were making her uncomfortable. When she looked up again Zav had a datapad in her hands. "You make a half decent point squirt. Tell ya what, I'll transmit the info of a engineer by the name of Chridan Deryn. You'll probably have some luck with him."

Rielay stepped back as Zav leaned forward, her image flickering out again. "You're gonna have to drag yourself to Coruscant but he'll do the job. Now lose my frequency _for good_." The transmission winked out and Rielay heaved a sigh as she heard her datapad on the bridge ding. Coruscant, huh.

Another planet covered in metropolis, much like Nar Shaddaa, but spilling over with Republic patriotism and government officials. A place where shady deals didn't go unnoticed and Rielay was the kind of person that people moved to the other side of the street when they saw her coming. It had never been her speed, or a steady source of jobs without becoming a Republic contracted individual and she had no desire to try and blend in among senators and military officials.

But Chridan Deryn was there and now that his name had been planted in her mind she remembered the engineer faintly. They had only met once before when Zav had installed new technology on the _Resolution_ but his work had been sound and his demeanor easy to work with. He was someone she could trust with her ship and she would gladly brave the Coruscanti airways for that small bit of trust.

If he was even still alive after more than ten years. Rielay paused, drumming her fingers against the holoterminal as she turned this idea over in her mind. The Sacking of Coruscant stood between the last time they met and now and it was a very real possibility the name Chridan Deryn had joined the long list of lives lost alongside crewmembers she had called family.

Frowning, she ran to the bridge to snatch the datapad from where she had discarded it on the pilot's chair, skimming through the files Zav had sent as she went to sit back at the terminal. She keyed in the frequency attached, steepling her fingers as she waited for the transmission to pick up. After several heartbeats it crackled to life, a flickering blue form materializing. "Chridan Deryn?" She bit her lip and waited for a response, knotting her fingers together when a response joined the clearing static.

"Yes. Who is this?"

Rielay stood, shifting her weight back and forth as she began to see things fall into place again. _If this goes well…_ "Captain Rielay Taqq. We've met before. I was wondering if you were still in the ship defense business."

There's a span of silence as Chridan considered and just as her heart began to sink the audio sparked to life again. "I'm still in the business and I take it you've got a deal in mind?"

"Yes!" She answered without hesitation. "I'm in a bit of a spot right now, need some extra gear on this thing." She looked fondly at the metal around her before turning her eyes back to the holo projection. "I've got the credits ready, if you've got a spot."

The smile offered in return looks tight even pixelated as it was. "Oh don't worry about spots, we've had to downsize quite a bit." Ah, so he had been affected by the Sacking, lucky enough to escape with his life as she had. She could only assume that his life, like so many others, had been turned completely upside down. "It'd be a pleasure to work on another ship, captain." he recited an set of coordinates to her that she scrambled to copy down and the call cut off with a brisk; "I hope to see you soon Captain Taqq."

Perfect. She'd go to Coruscant, shell out the credits needed to pay to keep more filthy hands of her ship and then she'd be able to fix this mess.

Before that however, she still needed to get to Port Nowhere and find Hugo. She pushed away the growing dread at the thought of her crewmate seeing the ship like this and finding out exactly how she had handled Nar Shaddaa. While he wasn't one to gloat when he was right, she still desperately wanted to avoid telling him what had happened. He had spent most of their travel before the job trying to convince her to let him join her planetside, but for her own selfish comfort she had dumped him on Port Nowhere on the quickly pulled together pretense of contract hunting. Much like the Hutt deal on Nar Shaddaa, it wasn't something she was proud of. And much like the the deal, it had come back to bite her in the ass.

Hugo hadn't even been a planned addition to her crew. Part of her still grumbled that she never should have pulled him out of the venom mines of Quesh. But she had, out of sympathy for the half dead man that had spent more than twenty years enslaved to the whims of Imperial higher-ups fighting for control of the resource against the Republic. She had been telling herself ever since she pulled him that she'd dump him at the next planet.

Somehow he was still around and on her payroll.

Rielay snatched a toolbelt from a storage cabinet mounted on the wall, fastening it around her waist and starting to make her rounds around the ship, checking and rechecking all the systems and trying her best to scrub as much evidence of Nar Shaddaa away as she followed her thoughts.

As far as Hugo knew she worked better solo. And so far her partially true insistence had held true, she hadn't messed up a job this bad in a long time. Now she'd have no choice but to come clean about the real reason she refused time and time again to take his readily offered backup.

In her eyes he was a ticking time bomb, the timer set by long term exposure to Quesh's atmosphere with barely any protection. Physically he bore marks of it, whether it be scars or his perpetually hoarse voice but she worried that there might be a day if she took him down for the jobs that he might break. That was a risk she didn't want to deal with or take.

She growled under her breath, tossing aside the rag and cleaner she had been trying to use to scrub off a scorch mark on the wall. With a few breaths she pushed the unavoidable confrontation with Hugo from her mind and turned her attention to her ship. The damage wasn't unfixable but each failed attempt to scrub off scorch marks or hammer out long scars of torn metal left a bad taste in her mouth. The _Promise_ was her home, a home she had worked hard to get and kept in impeccable condition since and she had let _this_ happen. She might as well have put these marks here with her own two hands.

* * *

By the time the nav computer signaled that she had arrived at her destination she had worked through the standard night hours, shining and hammering her ship back into some semblance of normality. Her hands were covered in cleaner and oil when she shimmied out from one of the many crawl spaces to scamper to the bridge, wiping her hands on her pants as she took over landing control. She had spent hours of her work trying to fabricate a passable lie to send Hugo's way and still longer trying once again to find a kind way to tell him to get off her ship. Everything that came to mind caught in her throat and she had eventually given up, pushing it out of her mind again. Trying to fix everything had met a similar barrier with the tools she had on hand and she given up on that moments before the blessed signal for Port Nowhere.

She propped her feet up on the control board and turned her eyes to the viewport, waiting for a lift to dump Hugo into the hangar and his reaction to the vandalism decorating the outer shell of the ship. He didn't make her wait long, it was only a few minutes after she had commed him that the lift doors sprung opened and he spilled out, all dark hair and nervous energy.

Hugo paused, taking in the exterior of the _Promise_ with an expression Rielay couldn't make out. Rielay steeled herself before marching into the hallway before the airlock, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall to wait. Her body hid a long scar in the metal she hadn't been able to hammer out no matter how much she swore and banged at it with a hangar and she hoped it would go unnoticed.

When the airlock hissed open she forced a smile, giving a cheery wave. "Like what I did with the place?" If she could joke it off maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"Captain," His voice, hoarse and scratchy, was deliberate and questioning. "I take it Nar Shaddaa was...interesting?"

She flicked a hand dismissively trying to laugh. It came out flat and nervous. "Interesting, nah, same old, same old. Find any new jobs?" Oh dear, the look sent her way was leaving very little room to skirt around her sudden lack of cargo and the sad state of their shared home. He raised an eyebrow and she turned away, hurrying back onto the bridge to set the coordinates for Coruscant and get them out of the port. "Okay maybe it didn't go as well as I planned."

He kept the silence until they were back in open space and she no longer had a reason to divert her attention away from whatever had happened. He reached around her to flip on the autopilot. "You said this job would be simple."

"It _was_ simple." She shrugged, looking at the wall instead of him. "Just smuggling some spice, taking out some gang members, then things got complicated. Nothing I couldn't handle but-"

"Wait, go back, you were smuggling _spice_?" Ooops she she shouldn't have said that. She couldn't smuggle the illegal drug without a guilty conscience if she went around spilling that small detail to the one person on this ship who could keep his morals around a pile of credits. "Rielay, that's extremely illegal do you know what could've happened if you'd been caught?"

Again she waved a hand dismissively, rolling her eyes. "It's nothing I haven't gotten away with before." She closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath and hissing it out from behind her teeth. "Forget I said that. I might have pissed off the Exchange and hitched a ride to their base but everything turned out fine."

When she met his eyes she didn't find anger, just a deep disappointment. Anger would have been better, she decided. If he had been angry she could have brushed it off and let it blow over. "I would believe you if not for the ship and the fact it looks like you were punched. Seriously, what happened down there?"

Her hand strayed up to the bridge of her nose, wincing when she found the skin sensitive and painful. Her carefully put together air of nonchalance was fading faster and faster as her attempts to dance around the truth were rejected. "I killed the Exchange leader, miscalculated and couldn't get proof." She mumbled, keeping her gaze fixed on his. "My client wouldn't give me the money so I-" She drummed a nervous beat out on her arm with her fingers. "I um...sliced into his account and took a thousand credits or so. Maybe more." Dead silence. Hugo shook his head, scrubbing a hand across his face and motioning for her to continue without saying anything. "Turns out I'm not the best thief and got caught. So they did this." She leaned back against her chair, gesturing out towards the ship.

"Rielay…" He sighed. "Just, really Rielay?" Another, longer sigh. "What's the extent of 'this'?"

If Zav were here Rielay would have been flayed alive by now. Being a habitual disappointment had been easier when she hadn't been faced with dragging someone down with her that had nothing to do with it in the first place. "Mostly cosmetic." She started hesitantly. "...but almost all the cargo was stolen. Mostly the valuables we were supposed to deliver to the sith and jedi." She was losing Hugo's relaxed acceptance of the situation now, his muscles tensing as she revealed just how bad their situation had the potential to be. She held up her hands placatingly. "Hear me out, I'm going down to Coruscant to talk to an engineer that should be able to do something to make sure nothing else gets stolen and I can take some jobs down there, make enough credits to pay off the clients we lost cargo for, it'll all work out."

"Let me get this straight." Hugo was rubbing his temples again like she was giving him a headache. "You went alone to Nar Shaddaa even after I offered to help, got roped into smuggling one of the most illegal drugs in the Republic and turned into a very bad assassin _and_ robbed a Hutt to top it all off. And you still think you have everything _completely_ under control?"

Rielay bristled, putting her hands on her hips. "You don't have to make it sound so awful, and yes I do think I have everything under control." She said indignantly. She wasn't expecting Hugo to toss up his hands and turn his back on her. "Hugo!"

"Look Rielay, I don't agree with what you do sometimes, and now is one of them. But if you have everything under control then fine, you're the captain. I forwarded the jobs I found while on Nowhere, do whatever you want with them."

He was gone before she could protest, disappearing deeper into the ship and she threw herself down into the pilot's chair with huff, tossing her feet back up onto the control board. She knew it was perfectly reasonable he'd be mad after what happened but pointing out the stark differences between their rights and wrongs rubbed her the wrong way. The datapad resting next to her left foot teased her and she crossed her arms tightly across her chest. She would _not_ look at the jobs right now, she wouldn't brush aside the standing problems-

Rielay leaned forward, snatching the datapad into her hands and opening the file. As she flipped through the contacts and descriptions guilt slithered back to clench around her heart. Hugo had just as she had asked and better, pulling jobs on planets from Coruscant all the way to the Outer Rim. The jobs themselves ranged from supply runs to weapon drop offs, nothing solely Republic based and nothing that would send her too far over the line of legality. She snuck a look at her chrono; they still had hours until they would reach Coruscant and while she knew the heaviness in her eyes meant she should sleep she readjusted her position and began to sift through the jobs, responding to ones she wanted and denying those that didn't offer enough pay. Her guilt eased into the back of her mind as she fell into a routine and when she finally set the datapad aside it had almost completely faded.

She just had to get through Coruscant and things would all fall into place. Hugo would see that she had everything under controlled and executed perfectly and would have no reason to doubt her again.

Settling back into her chair she watched the blue whirl of hyperspace fly by, resting her head back against the headrest. Everything would be fine, so long as the infamous smugglers luck was on her side.


	3. Chapter 3

**Warnings: Strong language**

Three days. Three days, the time it took to travel from Nar Shaddaa to the Republic Fleet then to Coruscant, is all it took for Rielay's reputation to go up in flames. News spread like the plague in the underworld trade circles, she had seen many a smuggler lose their livelihoods to bad deals and news of mistakes being spread. She hadn't thought it would happen to her.

From her spot on top of a undelivered cargo box she crossed another name off her shrinking list of contacts on Coruscant and opened another flashing message notification. It read the same as the others that had been swamping her all morning.  
"That twi'lek smuggler doesn't want these artifacts anymore." Rielay called out, punctuated with a sigh. Her eyes searched the shadows cast by the _Promise_ until she found Hugo working to get the ramp functioning again. It refused to go any lower than the half extended position Rielay had found it in on Nar Shaddaa.

"Aovanna? The one from Nowhere?" There was a thump as Hugo hopped off the ramp and came over to lean on the crate, looking over her shoulder at the datapad. His fingers brushes across a section of the list, making an imaginary circle. "That's okay, we can lump these artifacts in with the ones we're supposed to hand over the the sith."

"It might cover the ones we... _I_ , lost." Rielay pulled another document open, scrubbing one hand over her face as she held the device over her shoulder for Hugo to take. "But that doesn't change the fact that almost all our contacts on this planet have already pulled out. I've got three more to meet before I have an appointment with Chridan Deryn. I don't have high hopes."

Hugo hummed as he scrolled through the list she had pulled up for him. "It looks like the supplies for the lower levels are still good to go, as well as the delivery of the old documents to that senator. Do you want me to take care of those while you're out?"

Rielay finished putting her blasters on her belt before she answered. "That won't be necessary." When she reached out to take her datapad back she was just able to catch the small tightening of his jaw and the way his eyes flashed. But before she could call him out on it his expression had gone neutral, though he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"What do you want done?"

As she rattled off a list of repairs that needed to be finished and parts that needed to be ordered she watched his expression but no trace of the irritation returned. By the time she had piled the old documents into her bag and slipped out of the hangar there was no sign of him. Hugo may as well have vanished into the infrastructure of the _Promise_ itself.

Three days had been what it took to burn Rielay's reputation to ash. Three clients is what it took to blow that ashes to the wind and ruin her chances to get out of this predicament easily. She had reached out to as many contacts, no matter how distant to try and get the credits needed to either pay off the bounty hunters or the Hutt himself . Many had got cold feet before they even met in person and even more of her in person meetings hadn't gone as planned.

Nothing ever went as planned.

She had one final meeting left before she had to get to her appointment with Chridan Deryn. She _needed_ this to work out. Without it there would be no way for her to make enough money to pay off anyone, or get the security installed on the _Promise_. Despite what she had told Chridan she didn't have the credits ready. Any credits she may have put towards the new systems lay with the empty spots in her cargo hold. Without that security she may as well sleep in the middle of a shootout-at least then she'd know when the blaster bolt would hit her.

For now the best she could hope for was to actually make it through her meeting, instead of getting a single look and a "Forget about it, Rielay." Always Rielay. Never captain, never _captain_ Rielay Taqq. No indication of her captainship, no reputation, no credits, no work. She had nothing. Nothing but an old name attached to an old friendship leading her down into the lower levels of Coruscant. The lower levels where the gangs played and Rielay was clearly not welcome. She fit the part well enough, with two blasters holstered in plain view and a worn duster brushing the ground around her feet but with no obvious affiliation to the Black Sun or a particularly threatening stature she was prey open for hunting. Why her contact had wanted to meet down here instead of the the nicer, civilian populated areas was beyond her.

The lower levels of Coruscant were like a cleaner, nice sister to Nar Shaddaa, it was every man for himself and she had no intention of letting any member of a high society gang be the one to put a shot through her had already left a trail of gang members in her wake by the time she arrived at the coordinates of a small, run down cantina by the name of the Blaster's Barrel, all of which had tried to take her down. Even down here she was a target, except instead of being marked for credits she was fending off thieves. It wasn't the glamorous life she had thought Zav had led, or the low profile with some interwoven action life she had imagined for herself. Not by a longshot.

The cantina was dark and musty when she stepped inside, smelling of cheap booze and mildew. Even though it was still before noon out on the streets the only light was that cast by the flickering neon signs on the walls, flooding the shadows in weak fluorescent light.

" _Captain_ Taqq." She hadn't wanted her title to be used with so much sarcastic scorn. In the dim light her eyes found a twi'lek woman slumped against the wall, her boots propped on a dirty table and her hand raising a bottle of...something in her general direction. It wasn't even mid-day. "So kind of you to contact me."

"Nalan'arcona." Rielay moved warily towards the table. "It's good to see you." Nalan'arcona was an old friend, hardly even a contact, even less a friend by now. Along with most of the _Resolution_ 's crew they had not parted ways on good terms.

"I wouldn't say the same." The twi'lek pointed a finger at her that gleamed the same metallic grey as the other cybernetics decorating her deep red skin. "And, it's Penumbra to you."

"Penumbra?" Rielay couldn't help but scoff, rolling her eyes and pushing away the twinge of hurt at her greeting. "that's a little dramatic, even for you."

The twi'lek shrugged, a loose, nonchalant movement. "I didn't ask for the name, but every bounty hunter earns one." she tilted her head, lekku twitching as they curled over her shoulders. Rielay crossed her arms, heart skipping a beat.

"Bounty hunter?" Nalan'arcona smirked at the nervous height in her voice.

"You a little scared, boc'ara?" Rielay huffed out a breath, shaking her head. "Liar. Chixi's bounty on you wasn't nearly enough credits to warrant taking you down." She thunked her feet off the table and used her toes to shove a chair out towards her. "There's no fun in the chase, not when you come right to me. What do you want?"

"You were considering kill me for credits?"

"Money is money, I assume that's why you're here?"

"Right,"Tentatively she perched on the edge of the chair, steepling her hands in front her her. "listen, I need credits." She held up a hand to ward of Nalan'arcona's scoff. "Hold on, I thought maybe you could use a hand transporting gear, or weapons for jobs, or maybe you knew someone who did..."

Several seconds passed before the twi'lek burst out into laughter, tilting her head back. "You think I'd set you up? _Really_?" Chair legs scraped on the floor as she scooched back, making to stand. "I didn't set up this meeting for you to waste my time."

"No you set it up to earn some easy credits!" Rielay snapped, leaning across the table to snatch her wrist, looking up with fierce eyes that faded to pleading. "But you're still here Nal, come on. You're my last contact, everyone else has backed out and I need the money. I've got people that actually _will_ kill me."

Her hand was shaken off, but Nalan'arcona paused to rest her forearms on the table, nose to nose with Rielay. "You're cute, Rielay, but consider the blaster bolt I didn't put through your pretty little head as much charity as you'll get from me. Maybe you should work on being a better smuggler instead of begging for money. Better yet just sell your ship and save the galaxy the trouble of killing you." There was a wicked gleam in her eyes, the smirk no longer playful but instead filled with malice.

"That is unfair!" Rielay slammed her hands palm down on the table.

"Good captains don't have bounties on their heads." Nalan'arcona straightened and lifted a shoulder. "Can't help it if it's true. I'm not doing charity work for you.."

While Rielay stood in silence, eyes fixed on her hands she shrugged again, readjusting her armor before walking by, clapping her cybernetic hand down on the stunned captain's shoulder as she did. "This is exactly why everyone left you on the _Resolution_. Maybe you should take the hint."

Brows knitting, eyes fixed firmly on the tabletop as her hands knotted into fists Rielay spoke softly. "Thanks for letting me know." her lip curled. "I thought crewmates were always supposed to stick together, help each other."

She jerked away as Nalan'arcona's hand moved from her shoulder to bat her ponytail in a mockery of a once affectionate move, her voice growing fainter as she retreated from her peripheral. "That naivety is going to get you killed, bac'ara. And we aren't crew-not anymore."

As soon as she heard the door to the cantina slam closed she savagely shoved her chair back up to the table hard enough that it clattered against the wood and whipped around to leave, pausing only when she was in the alleyway adjacent to the street Nalan'arcona had exited onto. She watched as the twi'lek passed by, retreating deeper into Black Sun territory. She waited until the count of ten to go out into the street, mentally cursing the childlike avoidance and nearly ran back the way she had came, eager to put as much distance between her and the meeting as possible.

Three days, three meetings, all failures.

Chridan had to work out, she _needed_ that much today. She at least needed to know she could get the security she needed. Once she had that she would find a way to scrounge up the credits needed, she would find a way. If she couldn't sleep safely on her own ship than she was better off taking Nalan's advice and selling the _Promise_ and disappearing.

Rielay leaned back against the seat of the sky cab taking her to the upper levels, running her hand through her hair. She could sell the _Promise_ to get the credits to pay off Chixi and his bounty hunters, but that was only a last resort. The idea of parting with her ship, _her_ ship that was wholly her own, made her stomach churn. But her own life was more important and if it took selling her ship to preserve it than she would have to.

The sky cab dropped Rielay off a few bridges away from an apartment in the upper levels. She hopped out, eying the destination of her address dubiously. Chridan hadn't been kidding when he'd mentioned downsizing his company. What had been situated in a large warehouse filled to the brim with manufactured parts, employees and other engineers the last time she had done business with him was reduced to virtually nothing unless the apartment was simply a meeting place. The lack of warehouse did not mean Chridan Deryn was not well off, by any stretch of his mind. Even if his own business was lacking the name Deryn was not unknown thanks to the huge success and reputation of his wife. Just being in the upper levels of the planet's metropolis spoke to that and a swirl of envy tugged at her mind, the stability and comfort this kind of life had to offer almost sounded appealing in her current limbo. Maybe she could have had a life like that if she had remained on Corellia. But that bridge, like so many others had been burned a long time ago. If it had ever been an option in the first place.

Forcing out a breath and shaking away all her thoughts thoughts except the meeting at hand she crossed the distance to the door and raised her hand to knock. As she waited she crossed her arms over her chest, then let her arms drop to clasp in front of her, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She glanced up as the door hissed open and some of the tension released from her shoulders as Chridan Deryn greeted her with a smile in his kind eyes. "It is nice to see you again, captain."

"It's too bad the circumstances aren't great." Rielay admitted, shaking his outstretched hand. "It was a lifesaver to hear you were still in business, all these years later."

Chridan laughed, stepping side to motion her through the door "I hope my being a lifesaver isn't literal, that's a lot to ask of an old man." She huffed out a short laugh, she was being more literal than he could imagine. But that wasn't something she was keen to point out.

"Being in business is also a stretch." She followed Chridan across a short stretch of living room into an adjoining room, feeling like she was trespassing. "I've had to send most of the business off planet, it's mostly me directing business here." A glance over his shoulder with a good natured wink drew Rielay back. "But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of working on your ship."

"Glad to hear it." She eased down into a chair across from a desk cluttered with datapads and piles of flimsy, all filled with designs and sketches. Chridan crossed behind the desk and sank into his own chair, leaning forward.

"While I don't mind the pleasantries, you seemed to have quite a lot of concerns. Why don't we address them."

Rielay leaned away, ducking down to rifle through the bag she had dropped at her feet. Flipping through the documents she still needed to deliver to the Senate tower she paused at a datapad and a folder filled with sheets of flimsi behind it. "These are the schematics for my ship, I don't know if you need them." Chridan took them almost as soon as she set them on the desk, looking through them as she continued, sparing her glances every now and then. "I'm in need of some extra security measures on board." After a brief pause she explained what she had been thinking and was soon leaning over the desk to point on the schematics and floor plans. When Chridan held up a hand for her to stop she plopped back down in her seat, knotting and unknotting her hands in the silence that suddenly surrounded them as the engineer processed her requests.

"What you're suggesting is definitely a possibility, captain." he mused, "Though I do have some concerns I think we need to go over."

"Concerns?"

And concerns he had. Rielay listened, a frown drawing her face taunt the more he spoke. Yes, her ship had always been a mismatch of different models of parts, it's how she had bought it so cheap. Yes, she had added her own modifications to the ship over the years. Yes, she always did the repairs herself.

"Please just tell me what you're getting at." Rielay buried her face in her hands, pushing her fingers up into her hair.

"It isn't an issue of installing, that's still a possibility." Chirdan paused. "It's an issue of cost. With so many off the market parts and systems to work around it will take time and my employees don't work for free."

"Of course." She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, heart plummeting down to her stomach. "You have people to pay, I understand."

"I'm sure we can still work out something." Rielay was already stuffing papers back into her bag, crumpling them against the datapad and the untouched senate documents.

"That won't be necessary," There would be no scrounging up that much money, not even in her wildest dreams. She pushed her chair back, slinging the bag over her shoulder. "Thank you though, for your time. I have a job I need to get to." Gesturing towards the door she backed up. "So I should go…"

Chridan stood as well, starting out from behind his desk. "Captain, I can't know anything for certain until I see your ship. I can send my son by tonight and have him take a look, then I can give you a better cost estimate."

Halfway out into the main room, Rielay nodded. "Sure, yeah. Thank you." Her mind was whirling as she hurried back out into the chaos of the cityscape, stuck on repeat. _No defense, this won't work. No way out._ This wasn't how this was supposed to go, she wasn't supposed to be too broke to afford her own ship, she was _supposed_ to get the defense and then leave this rock behind. Instead she was stranded here, with no work, no reputation and no ship.

"Fuck." She threw her back down into the seat of a sky cab. "Take me to the Senate Plaza." She leaned back, raking her hands through her hair and blinking rapidly. "Fuck, fuck, _fuck._ "

She was numb when she handed the documents off to a togruta senator, the transferring of credits to her account passing by in a blur. It wasn't enough. Nothing would be enough. Not the credits skimmed from Chixi's bank accounts that got her in this mess, not the credits from this job. _Nothing_. There was no other choice except for her to quit while she was ahead, sell her ship and disappear into the sea of faces around her. It was either faceless anonymity or taking the blaster bolt between her shoulders on her own terms.

By the time she returned to her ship's hangar her stomach was threatening mutiny. She paused at the entrance, gripping her bag with white knuckles as she stared at her ship. The _Promsie_ was a sorry sight, paint still defaced her exterior along with a multitude of other gashes and scrapes. But at least the ramp was fully down now, no longer held just above her height.

It was sitting on this ramp that she made a decision and it was on this ramp that Hugo found her. He didn't come from inside the ship, as she thought he would. He came in from the spaceport entrance just as she had.

"Captain." He greeted her amicably as though the tension she had thought she saw this morning had just been her imagination. At this point she would believe it. As she hurriedly pulled her sleeve over her palm and brushed at her eyes he paused, voice dropping to concern. "Rielay, what happened?"

Rielay sniffed, burying her face in her hands and shoving back the torrent of swears that had been shouted until her voice broke before they could grace the hangar again. "I want you off this crew." _No, no_ no. That was exactly what Zav had done to her, word for word.

 _Zav took a deep breath, looking Rielay straight in the eyes. "I want you off this crew." She repeated, enunciating each word carefully._

She shuddered, shaking her head and biting her lip against the tears that wanted to fall. No more. Hugo took a step back, she could see him move through the cracks in her fingers and hear the two taps of his feet in the heavy silence that fell between them.

 _A drill clattered to the ground and Rielay's stomach plummeted with it. "Why?" A heartbeat later she was closing the distance between her and Zav, grabbing her forearm. "You can't kick me off, you're going to make me go back to Corellia-"_

"Why?" Hugo's hand touched her shoulder and she flinched. Unlike her, he wasn't clinging desperately, trying to make the words not true. "What did I do?"

 _Stars_ " _No_ , nothing. Hugo." A strangled sound, a slight keening breath-a sob she realized and tried to banish but it was too late, escaped her. "It's not you. I think, I'm...I'm selling the _Promise_." as soon as she said it the words wouldn't stop, flooding out in one long breath she didn't think she had been holding. "None of the jobs worked out, not even my old crewmates can help, Chridan's prices are too high and nothing's working and it won't work. I can't bring others down with me and I don't even feel safe on my own ship anymore-" She took a shuddering breath, lifting her face for the first time since Hugo had returned. "I need you to leave."

Several emotions flashed through his eyes-shock, hurt, maybe even pity, and each one stabbed her like a knife. "There's nothing else you can do?"

"I'm grounded here, they'll shoot me down as soon as I leave Republic space." Rielay didn't need to say who _they_ were. "I'm sorry, Hugo."

His hand lifted from her shoulder as he stood, thumping against his leg. "It's alright, Rielay. I have enough credits saved to last me until I find new work. I just wish I could help you."

She shook her head furiously, eyes welling up again. She wouldn't have a debt she owed to anyone, not now. "I'll be fine." _Liar_.

Less than an hour later she was standing alone in the hangar, sliding a handful of credit chips from hand to hand as though they burned her. Hugo had pressed them into her hands before he had left, money from some of the untaken cargo he had managed to sell while she was gone. She didn't deserve his help, not after turning him out onto the streets because of a stupid, _stupid_ mistake.

How many times had she said to herself that she was dumping Hugo at the next planet? How many times had she told herself he was a liability she didn't want to deal with? Well, now he was gone and she was alone.

With a shattered reputation, soon to be shipless, filled with a cold fear she hadn't felt since she had stood on the _Resolution_ 's bridge as captain.

Nalan had been right. _Good captains don't have bounties on their heads._ Good captains didn't turn away their loyal crewmates. Good captains didn't lose their ships over a few hundred credits. But she hadn't been trained by a good captain. She had never been a good captain herself. She never would be.

She turned back to the _Promise_ , swathed in shadow as the day outside drew to a close.

She'd never get the chance.


	4. Chapter 4

The hangar was blissfully quiet as Rielay moved around the remaining cargo that had yet to be loaded back onto her ship. It was just her and the boxes, the soft inhale and exhale of her breath on top of her footsteps the only noises alongside the power systems of the spaceport. Her tears had dried, leaving her cheeks and eyes red; the panicked horror she had felt faded to a hollow nothing. Hugo was gone, she was alone and had no out. It weighed heavy on both her mind and heart.

The hiss of the turbo lift shattered her mind numbing routine, immediately snapping her to high alert. She pressed her back to the crates she had been taking inventory of, thanking the stars that the stack was tall enough to hide her. Her hand drifted down to the blaster at her hip, closing around the grip and resting lightly on the trigger. As the footsteps padded closer she held her breath.

"Perfect flying condition?" A voice muttered as the footsteps stopped. "Bullshit."

She let out her breath in a huff, whoever this was had _nerve_. Rielay glanced over at the _Promise_ ; if this was where she was going to die, she might as well do it with at least her ship's dignity still intact,and slid out from behind the boxes. "Talking shit about my ship, stranger?"

Her blaster was pointed at the stranger's chest, prepared to be met with the brawn of a bounty hunter. But, she blinked and let her blaster drop down to her side, there was only a lanky young man stuffing a datapad back in his jacket.

At her voice he started, looking around wildly and taking hurried steps back towards the door until his eyes caught on her as she stalked closer.

 _Oh_ stars. She scowled, the young man towered over her by at least a head and she had to turn her chin up just to glare at the surprise and very faint amusement playing across his face. She should have stayed behind the crates, at least then she'd still have the idea of being threatening. At least, it it came down to a fight, he was more than likely going to judge her skills on her height. He'd have to learn the hard way that that wasn't anywhere near the truth.

Whoever this was though, definitely was not a bounty hunter. Not like any other bounty hunter she'd come into contact with. Compared to the types like Nalan he was a kitten, visibly unarmed and dressed in the light clothes of a civ. He looked as though he'd never left the upper levels. "Did ya get lost or something?"

The kid ran a hand through his hair, digging around in his pocket for something when she crossed her arms and continued to stare at him with a deep rooted suspicion. "No, but are you Captain Taqq?"

"I might be." She hedged, snatching the piece of flimsi he held out and quirking an eyebrow when he swore, shaking out his hand. There were scrawled numbers across it, the access code to the hangar. In her own handwriting. That had only been given to one person other than Hugo, and the young man in front of her definitely wasn't Chridan Deryn. A quick shot of panic iced her veins and she cast her eyes around, scanning for any unfamiliar shadows, any rifles that could be trained on her, any sign that Chixi's hunters had finally caught up to her. "Where'd you get this from?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but not fast enough. There was too high a chance he was a distraction for an ambush, far fetched as it would have seemed a few weeks ago. That chance, that gut feeling, was not something she was going to ignore. Not again. Her blaster was whipped up again to be trained on his chest and he held up his hands, backing away with wide eyes. "Who are you, where did you get this from and _what_ _do you want with my ship_?"

"Get that thing away from me." The kid had guts, snapping at her like that when she had a firearm within shooting distance. One movement of her finger and he'd drop the ground like a rock, silent as one too. "If you'd listen, captain-"

"I don't _want_ to listen." She brought her other hand up to steady her blaster, it had begun to quake with her hand. "Not if you're some distraction just waiting for me to drop my guard enough to kill me!"

This, finally, gave him pause and she took a breath. Utter bafflement crossed his expression before settling into irritation. Admirable, she thought. She could be about ready to pull the trigger and he had yet to qail. Either he was an idiot or he wasn't a bounty hunter. She wasn't yet ready to choose which.

He blinked at her, scrubbing a hand across his face and narrowing his eyes at her. "Are you…? Bounty... _what_?" He shook his head and muttered something she couldn't catch. "Look, crazy lady, I'm Emeldir Deryn, my father sent me to look at your ship. For installations, I think."

 _Oh._ Deryn. She looked at him inquisitively, thoughts clearing enough so she could start to see the resemblance. Same red-brown hair, same bright eyes-though narrowed at her in irritation. A small giggle threatened to force its way out and she dropped her blaster back down again, clapping a hand over her mouth. Stars he wasn't…

A snippet of conversation from the Senate Tower flashed to the forefront of her thoughts. The gossip of a group of senators, talking about a young man with an attitude causing chaos in that day's Senate meeting. She had been too preoccupied to focus in on the details but Deryn had definitely come up.

"Emeldir Deryn?" She couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice. "Not _the_ Deryn that had the old senate geezers throwing a fit?" Desperately she tried to reign in her fraying composure, but he looked to uncomfortable now, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck as it turned beet red, creeping into his face. It sent her back into a fit of giggles and she grabbed onto one of the cargo crates, dropping her head down onto her arm. She must look insane to him, but stress was one hell of a drug and of _all_ the kriffing people to work on her ship…

"I'm not a senator." He muttered defensively, pale eyes meeting her own watering ones with such awkwardness and defiance that she had to clamp her hand over her mouth again, shoulders shaking.

"I mean, you aren't the only one that's bad at their job." She offered with a lopsided, half hearted grin. Teasing the son of the person she had thought could do work on her ship wasn't the best idea she had ever had, but he wasn't even meant to be here. And he was so easy to nettle. She straightened, shaking her head and quieting her laughter. Unprofessionalism wouldn't get her anywhere. And it wouldn't do Emeldir Deryn any good either, except maybe make him leave faster. Now _that_ was an idea. There wasn't any more reason to waste the kid's time. "Look, kid, as great as it is to have company you don't need to be here."

"What do you mean? My dad sent me here-"

"Your services aren't needed. She won't be my ship soon enough and I don't have the credits to spend." She motioned towards the hangar door. "So don't let me waste your time."  
"Why would you want your ship looked at if you're selling?" He really wouldn't take the hint, would he? She wasn't here to spin him a wild tale about the details of her bad decisions and even worse actions.

"Circumstances change." Rielay said, gesturing towards the door again, more firmly this time. "Now please, leave."

Yet still, he lingered, looking at her ship with a look of deep concentration. His shoulders rose and fell once in a sigh and when he looked back at her he had an eyebrow raised. "I'll assume you ran short on the credits you _thought_ you had?"

Now, now, that tone implied that she hadn't thought this through. And she hadn't, but that was a small details that she could afford to leave out. "Are you implying I'm of the rough and tough smuggling type?" Rielay knew she should be offended and quite probably very worried that he could read her easily after only half a meeting, but she found she could only tilt her head and eye him with incredulity. He looked at her with his other eyebrow creeping up, thoroughly unimpressed.

"Captain Taqq, do you know how many smuggling vessels I've worked on? I know you're not a 'businesswoman'." He made air quotes around the fake title she had given herself. "XS freighters aren't exactly warships or pleasure vessels."

She most certainly should be angry with him. She'd be lying if she didn't have a soft spot for guts and sarcasm and instead she held up a hand, shaking a finger. "That's where you're wrong. I _am_ a businesswoman, just no the legal kind." This banter took the weight off her shoulders, the familiar quips and retorts falling easily to mask her stress and almost hid the looming fate of her and her ship.

The corners of his mouth quirked up in the barest hint of a grin. "In any case, if a _businesswoman_ type like yourself were to, say, need a few jobs I may know where to find some."

Either she was definitely going out of her mind or he was looking just over her shoulder, glancing in her direction as though the words that had come out of his mouth made any sort of sense. Maybe that was even more than the hint of a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. "You... _what?_ " She held up a hand when his mouth opened. "No, I heard you."

"Then I suggest we take a look at your ship, before it gets too late."

So he was serious. Rielay turned slowly, shaking her head slowly. "I...well, sure." She finally stuttered out, regaining her wits enough to stride ahead of him, spreading her hands out in a grand gesture when she reached the ramp. She wasn't about to shoot a gift Bordok in the mouth. If this kid was serious-and his eyes read serious like a lit up billboard-then she may have some use for him after all. "Well, this is the _Promise_. She's got to be one of the fastest and most nimble freighters you'll ever see."

She caught his eyes straying to the dents and spray paint and hopped up on the ramp, growling; Even if he would help her, he wasn't about to get away with insulting her ship twice in one sitting. "Hey! Eyes up here kid, it's been a rough trip."

`"I'm sure." Emeldir's eyes scoured the metal one last time before he shook his head. He was unruffled by her sharp tongue now. She glanced at him sideways before stepping into the airlock with the young man close behind. To find someone completely unbothered by her, to even return it in kind was a rare thing. She hadn't expected to find it in the stuffy upper levels of this rock. "Do you fly solo?"

"I had someone. Things didn't work out as planned. Just as the installations on my ship didn't."She looked around, a frown pulling at her mouth and listened for any the familiar sounds of another body moving around her ship, But it was quiet. A small sigh escaped her lips. She was lonely already and it showed, this was information that this kid had no reason to know.

"What do you need to see here kid?"

He rattled off the information like he had done it several times before. The engine room, or wherever the systems in her ship were kept. For wasting his time, at least he was professional about it. His casual offer still caught her off guard, if he could pull through then this could change everything. But if it was just a cruel joke...well, she wasn't sure she'd be able to help it if her blaster accidentally misfired.

Two engines stood still on either side of them when they stepped inside the engine room, controlled by a panel in the middle. "The hyperdrive is over there." She pointed to another removable panel, surrounded by the entrances to her crawlspaces. Hopefully nothing he needed was in those crawlspaces, she had made them for her use only and she doubted he could fold himself small enough to fit. "I don't know what you're looking for but the engines have been modded for maximum power and the hyperdrive has been upgraded multiple times. Not necessarily with all standard parts for this model."

Emeldir went to the left engine, examining it as he spoke. He moved as she had in the shipyards of Coronet City, confident and with ease as though he could do this in his sleep. Impressive. "I need to see the power your vessel is holding," He noted something to himself under his breath. "So that when installing the new defenses we don't overload the system or accidentally redirect power from the engines or the hyperdrive. The last thing I want to do is damage your ship." Another sideways look with the slightest of smirks. Well, wasn't he just having a field day making subtle jabs at her and her kind. Who knows how many smugglers he had met with an unhealthy attachment to their ships. She was no different and he was taking no small amount of pleasure in needling her about it.

Maybe it was payback for her own teasing of him.

It shouldn't be this easy for some teenager to so quickly shift her suspicion to good natured irritation. It shouldn't have been this easy for her to work a favor out of him. He had to be playing a game and Rielay needed to figure out what it was so she could put the power back in her hands. For now though, she'd play along.

"Right..so what'll be the cost for this system I want. Chridan Deryn didn't seem too keen to tell me right away." She asked as Emeldir replaced the panel he had taken out and stood back to his full height. "And tell me more about this offer of yours."

"Your looking at a lot of credits." Emeldir looked over his shoulder at the ship's systems, working his lower lip between his teeth as he did the math in his head. He just ended up shaking his head, drawing a hand slowly across his jaw. "I can't tell you the exact amounts, not with the small ecosystem of brands you have growing in here."

If she hadn't seen his brow wrinkle or his eyes narrow while he tried to calculate all the different costs needed to work around the parts she might have called him out right then and there for trying to cheat her. His doubt appeared genuine, as did his apologetic look. She didn't peg him as the kind to be a stellar actor and liar. She'd take this chance.

"Okay..so your deal." She raised her chin and looked up expectantly. "You said you had a work around for a captain in a tight situation?"

He dipped his head, leaning his shoulder against the wall. "I do, though it may not be exactly the work a smuggler is accustomed to."

She was quick to answer. "Anything is better than the situation I'm in now." Her fingernails drummed on her arm in a quick, nervous beat. "Though I must say I don't know what a young kid such as yourself would have for connections."

Casual, but if he was lying he would catch on it. She hoped, at least, that if he were lying he wouldn't be able to think fast enough to skim over her tripwire.

Emeldir answered smoothly, crossing his arms in a mirror of her own. If he weren't an upper levels specimen he could have just as easily fit here, in a smuggler's ship. His mannerisms, if she looked over the accent and refined politeness, wouldn't look out of place on Nowhere. "You'd be surprised at the people I meet through my father's business and my mother's career," He pushed himself off the wall to pace in the small space, gesturing as he spoke. Despite his smooth answers Rielay could tell he was pulling this plan together as he went, the slight pauses and expressions crossing his face were telling enough.

"There are a lot of senators looking to regain support among the people for the next election but none of them actually want to go down and get their hands dirty enough to help the people that aren't supporting them. I'm confident most of them will agree to have a..third party do the work in their names, especially since it isn't fully legal." A sideways glance was sent her way. She gave a slight nod, waving her hand from him to continue. "Or, depending on how many credits you'll need there are a few high paying locals that want gang trouble taken care of."

Gang deals and slightly illegal work? That was her job description in a nutshell. "I'm in. Send me the details and I'll report back to you in a few days."

"I'll give the details, but I have one requirement." Rielay stiffened, eyes immediately narrowing and her jaw setting.

There it was, the catch in this miracle. What would it be? A cut of the payment, something else? Her voice was clipped. "Oh? And what's that?"

His brow furrowed in the first sign of doubt she had seen from him in this whole exchange and he looked away briefly before meeting her eyes, To his credit whatever doubt was there was gone, replaced by a firm confidence. "I want to come with you."

Oh of course-Rielay blinked at him before barking out a strained laugh, "Come again?"

Significantly less sure of himself he shrugged, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. "I..want to go with you. On the missions."

She most certainly was _not_ going to take an untrained, unarmed kid through the underlevels of Coruscant. She wasn't going to risk a _senator_ 's son by even taking him in the mid levels of this planet. Whatever game he was playing at she wanted no part of. She was having a hard enough time winning her own. "Absolutely not." Come to think of it, why would he even want to tag along? Most Coruscanti civilians were allergic to the idea of danger. "Why would you even want to?"

"I don't want to try and get elected as a senator, I don't even want to finish learning _how._ I want to help people and you're the one that can help me do that."

That was almost laughable and Rielay would have snorted in derision had he not been looking at her with all of the excitement of an akk dog pup. He didn't know what he would be getting into. But, if these were to be multi-step jobs it may not be so bad to have an extra set of hands.

"You're looking at the wrong woman if you want a means to help people. I don't help people, I help myself." She tried to put as much gruffness into her voice as possible. All she had to do was ignore the very story behind Hugo joining her crew and she could almost believe her own lie. "And this isn't easy work. It gets dangerous."

It did the exact opposite of her intention, it seemed to solidify his resolve even more. "I understand and I won't get in your way. It's a duly beneficial agreement. You get your credits, I don't have to play at being a senator for a few days."

 _Stars_ why was she even thinking of agreeing to this? She had to pause, think about what was more important; the credits this would surely bring her, or the threat that Emeldir may pose? It took only one glance around her ship for her decision to be made. He was right, as long as he stayed out of her way they wouldn't have any trouble. Even if he was trying to trick her she could rely on her skills and reflexes to get her out. It was enough of a chance to make her decision the only correct one.

Maybe, she silently thought, he could even use that persuasive tone of his and that boldness to put a few more credits into her hands. She looked up at the ceiling, breathing out in a chuckle before sticking out her hand and meeting those akk-puppy eyes. So this is what rock bottom felt like, shaking hands with a teenager on a deal that had the high chance of getting her arrested for killing a senator. "You've got yourself a deal, kid. I expect you back here by six sharp tomorrow morning."

"I'll be here. Thank you, Captain Taqq." Emeldir smiled at her before stepping away and disappearing out of hangar.

No, thank _you_ Emeldir Deryn. Rielay watched him go, waiting until the sound of the lift faded before she spun to face her ship. A grin of her own split her face and she bounced on the balls of her feet before giving in entirely to excitement and leaping into the air, pumping her fist. The _Promise_ could stay hers, these easy credits would guarantee that. Noble men and woman with political careers at state wouldn't dare back out of a deal. All she had to do was drag the young Deryn around for a few days and then she could get off this rock and get the hunters off her trail.

Rielay looked into her ship from the bottom of the ramp, then down at her chrono quickly. It wasn't too late for all the shuttles to have left. If she moved fast enough she could find Hugo and bring him back here...back home.

She was on the main floor of the spaceport faster than she could plan, having practically sprinted to the lift and punched the button. By the time she hunted down one of the spaceport employees that worked the shuttle tickets she was nearly out of breath. Her hands whacked the desk as she skidded to a stop. "Is someone named Hugo around here?" She asked quickly. "Tall, blond hair, scars-" She gestured around her face and neck, blinking hopefully up at the employee with a beaming smile to match. "Probably would have approached you a few hours ago. I'm a...close friend and need to talk to him."

The employee, human, gave her an odd look, taking a step back from the desk to scan through a database listing ticket transactions. She frowned, scrolling before pausing and looking over at Rielay before looking back at the screen. "The shuttle he bought tickets for left a little while ago."

It felt like Rielay had been punched in the gut and the smile slipped off her face. "Oh..do you know where it was headed? There was a miscommunication, I need to contact him!"

"I'm not authorized to tell you that, ma'am." The look sent her way might have been sympathetic but Rielay looked away before it could register. She knew what this must look like, something ridiculous that might have come from a romance holo-vid. Two partners have a fight, one leaves.

That wasn't the case and she barely acknowledged the information that there were halo terminals around she could use to contact him, muttering a thank you before wandering back towards the lift in a daze.

A little bit. She had missed him only by a little bit. On the floor of the hangar she tried to pick up his comm signal, but all she received was static. She threw the piece of technology across the floor, running a hand over her face. A split second decision had ripped the man that had cared for and protected her for years away from his home, turned him out on the streets...just for it to be false alarm.

Five years of loyal service and she had repaid him by throwing it back in his face. Taking out her panic on him just as...Rielay's hand clamped over her mouth to muffle a cry...just as Zav had taken her anger after the Sacking of Coruscant on her. There would be no apology chance now, no chance for Rielay to tell him she was wrong. No chance for him to come back to her ship as Rielay had been allowed to remain on the _Resolution_.

Her new line up of jobs that had looked like a perfect miracle had lost some of its shine now that her excitement had been dashed. Saving her own hide, though it had been her goal all along, seemed like less of an achievement with her failure to take care of her crew. Hadn't she said that crew was family and should always stick together?

If she couldn't raise his comm signal now he would be long gone from Coruscant by the time she did. She should have _thought_ damnit, let Hugo help her instead of trying to take this on alone.

Her datapad beeped from where she had discarded it on a pile of boxes, drawing her hand away from her face. With leaden steps she trudged over and picked it up. A message flashed across the screen from an unidentified source.

 _Here are the details you asked for. -Emeldir Deryn_

There were several documents attached and she clicked the datapad off, curling her fingers around it. She may not be able to get Hugo back but she could still fix the rest of the mess she had made. And perhaps that could ease the guilt chewing on her heart.

If she could get her ship she could go get Hugo...if he'd even want to return to the _Promise_. Maybe, at least, she could help him find new work. But first she had to make it through her jobs. One step at a time.


End file.
